103 Responses

The UAlbany Uptown Campus is perhaps the most under-appreciated signature architecture in the Capital Region. It’s a wonderful example of the international monumental style, designed by a globally important modern architect, Edward Durell Stone. And it’s a campus, with a coherence and compactness to the design that you don’t find or experience at most colleges and universities. While I enjoy the architecture of each of the Region’s academic institutions, I particularly enjoy the vistas and architectural features of the UAlbany uptown campus – the combination of classical shapes and formations, the great circle, the canopies, the bell tower, the fountains and garden spaces, and most recently the wonderful new front door plaza which serves as a terrific venue for Spring Commencement. Anyone interested in learning more about E.D. Stone should take in an exhibit UAlbany has created on the first floor of University Hall, the Gwathmey/Siegel building at the head of Collins Circle. Information about Stone and the construction of the Uptown Campus is also available on the UAlbany web-site and provided by Hicks Stone, the architect’s son, in the recently published volume Architects in Albany, published by Mount Ida Press and available from Historic Albany Foundation and The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza. Albany is a rich treasure of architecture. Let’s encourage each other to learn more about it.

SUNY Albany uptown! The negative comments about SUNY can only come from those who don’t know the uptown campus. Anyone who has seen a snowfall from beneath the glass domes, or a thunderstorm from underneath the open-air “roof” of the Podium, or watched a thick fog roll among the pillars at night, or seen the Eden-like courtyard in the Life Sciences Building, or the azalea garden on the east end of campus, or the forested trails among ponds and hills on the south side of campus, or attended a reception in the Science Library atrium knows how beautiful the campus can be.

Union is a no brainer. It has the historic fancy architecture everyone likes, the surrounding neighborhoods well kept and has nice houses and fancy churches, it has the openness and grassy areas which are good to toss the frisbee around, and is close to downtown.

While Siena is nice to look at, I felt it didn’t have much of an atmosphere and was too spread out, and it is very remote. UAlbany is ugly but props to the architect for being original. ACC’s buildings aren’t anything to look at but the setting is nice surrounded by trees and mountains and tight knit.

I didn’t go to Saint Rose, but I think it has come a long way from a random collection of old houses. It retains that residential air while incorporating some new, pretty high-tech buildings. I went to a concert in the Massry building and the acoustics were amazing. There’s so much happening in only one block or so. It’s a real gem.

Another vote for Union College. Most of the Capital Region has never been on campus (as I’m guessing most of the voters, too). Jackson’s Gardens and walking around the campus, Nott Memorial, …. it is the quintessential college campus.

The College of Saint Rose is a great place to attend college. It is also a great community with professors who really care about your success and take time out of their busy schedules to help in any way they can. It is small enough to get around and large enough to offer great courses. It is definitely my first choice!

Thomas Jefferson’s campus at The University of Virginia is generally recognized as the most beautiful campus in the country. Its rich architectural design has earned it recognition as the only campus to become a UNESCO World Heritage site. Jefferson generally accredited his inspiration for the design as having come from Renee’s plan of the Union College campus 5 years earlier. As a an avid architecture and landscape design fan, I have seen the Union campus and it is beautiful. Virginia’s is more so, but it has lost some of its congruity to expansion, whereas Union has always kept Renee’s vision fairly true to form. Few people have interest to see this small campus tucked away in the industrial sprawl of post GE Schenectady, but it really is worth the effort to see.

I read a lot of eaasys from incoming freshmen and they all fall in love with the school the moment they step foot on campus. Buildings are one thing but the faculty, staff and students are what make a college what it is. You cannot beat it. This all translates into making the College a beautiful place to be.

Really? St. Rose… UAlbany? It’s cute that you try and make it sound more appealing with “urban setting” and “modern architect”. Let’s be honest… “urban setting=downtown albany=terrible. and “modern architect”=concrete… and, no Suny Albany students.. it’s certainly not the concrete jungle where dreams are made of. Siena provides students with a safe environment on and off the campus. Yes, it is rather uniform looking but drive by other colleges on a nice day and see if you see students laying out and reading, or playing sports. Siena is maintained beautifully, and has no comparison in this region.

Actually, #78, Saint Rose has a wonderful urban setting. You seem to be anti-urbanism in your comments, which really take away from their merit. Siena is too out there. Not to mention it’s inaccessible by bus quite often. I would have applied for a job there but because of the hours, I wouldn’t have been able to get back to Albany. Not a good situation for any college.

Siena’s campus may not look like much from the road, but once you are walking around the quad you will clearly see how beautiful the campus is. Or better yet, sit in a chair next to the floor length windows on the top floor of the Standish Library- the tree-lined quad with students laying out in the sun is unbeatable (or even in the winter- the snow-covered trees with lights glimmering through).

Union does have a pretty campus, but it’s not as unified as Siena’s is, which in my opinion makes Siena prettier.

Sage is the best College:small class room sizes with brilliant professors, and campus is beautiful too. It is the best affordable College in Capital Region with high standards of education, specially Graduate school is great..where majority of the professors are Phds and have full time status… I am fully satisfied with my learning experience here at Sage College.

Russell Sage is such a cozy, beautiful campus and it’s park is a wonderful place to sit on a sunny day! The buildings and brownstones are so reminiscent of the early century that it exudes a lovely vintage charm!